Cavaliers planned on trading Kyrie Irving before he made request: report

By BRETT BODNER

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Jan 03, 2018 | 2:54 PM

The Cavaliers may have been ready to move on from Kyrie Irving before he demanded to be traded.

Irving made it known this summer he wanted to be out of Cleveland, but details as to why were never made clear. In an interview with ESPN, it was revealed the Cavaliers explored trading the point guard before he even made the request to be sent to a new team.

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"I didn't feel the need to say anything because I knew the truth, and so did they," Irving told ESPN. "So it didn't matter what others said."

"They didn't want me there," Irving said.

Kyrie Irving felt he wasn't wanted when he was traded to the Celtics in August after he requested the Cavaliers send him to another team. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

When LeBron James was asked by ESPN about Irving suggesting he wasn't wanted, LeBron acted surprised at the claim.

Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin reportedly tried to make a trade with the Pacers and Suns in a move that would've sent both Paul George and Eric Bledsoe to Cleveland. However, the Suns resisted because they didn't want to trade away the No. 4 pick in the NBA draft, which they planned to use to select Josh Jackson.

Irving felt hurt by the trade proposal and sources told ESPN he believed LeBron's people set up the trade talk.

LeBron James (l.) said the idea of the Cavaliers wanting to trade Kyrie Irving (r.) before he asked them to "makes no sense." (Ron Schwane/AP)

The 25-year-old would later be traded to the Celtics along with a 2020 second-round pick in exchange for Boston star Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Nets' 2018 first-round pick.

Both Boston and Cleveland are expected to compete to represent the Eastern Conference in this year's NBA Finals. The two teams will square off in a regular season matchup Wednesday night in Boston.